Spontaneous Generation

I remember being fascinated in school when we learned about the theory of spontaneous generation. From Biology Online:

People used to think that mice could form spontaneously from stored grain. Or, maggots could spontaneously appear in meat without the involvement of any biological precursor, like a parent.

Something about adults believing something so patently ridiculous amused me.

But now certain events in Oakland Mills have given me pause. An empty lot, which has been nothing but an empty lot for as long as I’ve lived here, has suddenly given birth to vehicles.

Multiple vehicles. Some of them are enormous trucks. Some come and go, some just sit there as if abandoned.

Truly I thought nothing could make that forlorn lot look worse. I was wrong.

What could have attracted them? It’s true that the lot was once the home of a gas station, but it’s never given rise to cars and trucks before. Something in the environment must have changed…(puts on scientific thinking cap.)

Okay, my approach is tongue-in-cheek but the situation is factual. Not only is the lot an eyesore it is also a safety hazard. We have plenty of kids and teens in Oakland Mills and one of these trucks is a car carrier with at least one car attached. There’s no fence that would prevent a curious/foolhardy climber. For that matter, this piece of land is not supposed to be a parking lot.

What has changed? I had heard that upcoming new ownership of the lot would mean that finally there would be some action on this property.

In the meantime? This is not exactly the kind of action I was expecting.

In asking around I’ve learned that the current owner of the empty lot is also the owner of the Oakland Mills Dunkin and a few others in the area. Hmm. You would think he would want to be a good neighbor. If you want people to keep coming back for your coffee and donuts it would behoove you to treat the neighborhood with respect.

As unlikely as it sounds, apparently the change that gave rise to vehicles on our lot was donuts. Well, coffee and donuts. I like coffee and donuts.

But I would like mine without a side of trucks.

Comments

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents. When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...

F ³: We Are Not Entitled

A college student went missing. His family and friends were distraught. The community was encouraged to be on the lookout and spread the word. Days passed. They must have been agonizing days for those who cared about the missing student. Thoughts that foul play had been involved cannot have been far from their thoughts. Then, at last, the student was found. Alive. The news was shared with the public. So. Much. Relief. A family had been reunited with their child. Even though we know that life is complicated, I think it is okay to accept this as a happy ending and leave it at that. But the world of social media says no. For every expression of joy at the news came questions and even judgement. It became clear to me that some folks felt entitled to an explanation. They wanted the backstory. It’s as though they felt that, by enlisting the help of the public on social media, the authorities now owed them all the details. Television dramas often weave curr...

Separate and Unequal

Remember “Separate but equal”? Remember how that really meant that Black schools languished in broken-down buildings without adequate heat or toilet facilities, with cast-off, ragged learning materials, underfunded and largely ignored? The Supreme Court struck that down in 1954. The evidence was clear that separate was not equal. Plessy v Ferguson had led to - - no, endorsed - - deeply unequal schooling and opportunities. We tend to think of Brown v Board as being purely about racial integration. It was not. It was about the logical consequences of segregation. And they were not, not, not equal. The ruling in 1954 didn’t transform public education for non-whites into a land of milk and honey by any means. But it articulated some essential truths in a way that made including everyone a legal precedent which could be relied upon and built upon. It was better than what came before it but it rested upon unsteady ground. It did not necessarily change the hearts or minds ...

Village Green/Town²

Search This Blog